Discussion of the main themes in Kate Chopin’s novel “The Awakening” Try being a liberal wife, mother, but overall, a woman in a society in which your actions, feelings and limits are predetermined. This was the case of Edna Pontellier, the main character of the novel “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin. The novel is about a dissatisfied woman who seeks independence from the duties allotted to her by the society in which she lived in, as a mother and wife. “The Awakening” is primarily about an identity crisis; the “awakening” of her true self, who lived in a house hidden from a socialized exterior. Although, when referring to this novel it is an understatement to discuss only one theme. That is why in this essay it is important to identify the variety of topics that help us follow the reading in order to connect with its characters. Some of these topics are the position of women to society, marriage, family behavior and respect, love, repression, social class, among others. By reflecting on these important elements that build and complete the essay, we can absorb the true meaning of the reading in order to understand the author’s message, triggering all the reasons that lead to her awakening. Gender, Edna Pontellier's limitations, expectations, and impositions are all based on her biologically being a woman. Society's structure in the novel dictated that the women's main purpose was to be only a wife and a mother. But in the case of our main character, she had different aspirations. Unlike other women in the novel, Edna's eagerness was directed towards a different goal than the typical woman that society had already prescribed. She wanted to be an artist, to be with the person she really loved, and to have the chance to be herself with her own identity. To some extent Edna was influenced by the other women in the novel, mostly dragging her away from society´s outlooks. Mademoiselle Reisz, with her outstanding talent in the piano, influenced Edna by making her discover the desire she had to draw and be an artist. In Adele Ratignolle´s case, even though she is Edna's closest friend, she is at the same time Edna's complete opposite. Adele is the supreme example of societal woman's structure, she even tries to sway her wife and motherly ways to Edna, but only manages to drag her even further away from her "duties". While Adele was part of the group of “women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels”. (pag. 19) Edna “was fond of her children in an uneven, impulsive way. She would sometimes gather them passionately to her heart; she would sometimes forget them … she did not miss them except with an occasional intense longing. Their absence was a sort of relief, though she did not admit this, even to herself. It seemed to free her of a responsibility which she had blindly assumed and for which Fate had not fitted her.” (pag. 47-48) Edna wanted to be one of the women from the Victorian era who “gained their own sources of support, and broke once and for all with humiliating forms of financial dependency on men”. (Buhle 51) “Mrs. Pontellier was not a mother-woman” and her husband though so as well. (pag. 19) During the late nineteenth century, artistry was not supported for women and neither was getting a divorce a possibility. Given the constraints of the time in which the novel takes place, it is what makes the situation so controversial. Edna was not in love with her husband, but under the circumstances she could not be divorced. It was expected of women, regardless of how they felt, that it was their duty to be a good mother and wife. Mr. Pontellier did not support his wife when she “feels like painting”, he thinks it is “utmost folly for a woman at the head of a household, and the mother of children, to spend in an atelier days which would be better employed contriving for the comfort of her family.” (pag. 147) Also, to add to this “outstanding marriage of the time”, one could easily notice Edna’s uncomfortableness in being left alone with her husband, because “what should [she] do if he stayed home? [They] wouldn't have anything to say to each other.” (pag. 178-179) This shows not only that marriages only stay together because of how they may look in society’s eyes, but that it is what society expected for them to do. It is almost impossible to completely divide the text and the character of Edna from Kate Chopin. The feminist ideas presented in the text begin as mild sentiments but as the story goes on these suggestions of women’s empowerment become developed declarations, especially as Edna begins to awaken. There are sentences “throughout the book that indicate the author's desire to hint her belief that her heroine had the right of the matter and that if the woman had only been able to make other people 'understand' things as she did she would not have had to drown herself”. (Culley 152) Although it can surely be argued whether she was a noble or typical feminist, or if she was merely a selfish woman who chose the easy path in the end, the text is valuable outside of the definite literary aspect. “The Awakening” contains a great deal of revealing information about the nature of gender relationships in the Victorian era. In this era women did not have suffrage rights, the right to sue, or the right to own property. Women’s rights were extremely limited. This may explain why Edna felt an urge to go against the ideas highlighted in this era. This is why perhaps, a reader may not understand or like Edna’s characterization throughout the novel. And while many find her selfish and rash, it is important to point out in her society, especially in terms of gender relations and standards, what she was rebelling against before blindly judging her decisions. Society plays a very important role in this novel; society is the main antagonist. It is what pushes every character to act how they do. Society expects, influences, imposes, and represses what and how people have to be. Repression, people take it differently, for example: acceptance, while Madame Ratignolle “cheerfully” declares that “a woman who would give her life for her children could do no more than that” either because the “Bible tells you so” or because she blindly accepts that she “couldn't do more than that.” ; but on the other hand we have the society’s controversy, Edna Pontellier, who believes that it is acceptable if a mother “would give up the unessential”, like “money” and ones “life” but never to give one’s self. This is where one can observe her awakening when she tells Adele that “it's only something which I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me.” (pag. 122) One can observe the repression being physically imposed by Dr. Mandelet after Mr. Pontellier went to “talk about Edna” because “she seems quite well, but she doesn’t act well. She’s odd, she’s not like herself.” (pag. 169) Leonce finds odd that “she lets the housekeeping go to the dickens” because he has been repressed into believing that if she is a woman and does not want to do the house duties, she surely has got something wrong going on. (pag. 170) Dr. Mandelet was the last person to talk to Edna about her motherly duties and how “it seems to be a provision of Nature; a decoy to secure mothers for the race. And Nature takes no account of moral consequences, of arbitrary conditions which we create, and which we feel obliged to maintain at any cost.” (pag. 191-192) Mandelet not only did impose one last time Edna’s duties, but when she finally is determined and states that she is “not going to be forced into doing things” and that she does not “want anything but [her] own way”, Mandelet says that she “seemed to [him] to be in trouble” and that he will blame her if she did not go and see him soon. (pag. 292-293) Mandelet foreshadowed that something bad was going to happen. One can only handle being pushed certain amount of times into something that one does not accept, believe, or desire before being pushed over the border. Throughout the whole novel Edna is being shoved into society’s standards, “there must have been influences, both subtle and apparent” by everyone around her. Since the beginning Mr. Pontellier “reproached [his] wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children” (pag. 12) Adele tries throughout the novel to make Edna into a better mother and wife, her last words towards Edna were: “Think of the children, Edna. Oh think of the children! Remember them!” (pag. 289) Mademoiselle Reisz adds to Edna’s inside flames towards Robert by reading to her the letters between them and telling her: “Poor fool, he loves you.” One of the last most significant quotes Dr. Mandelet directed to Edna that shows his attempt to imposition the era’s right ways was: “The trouble is, that youth is given up to illusions. It seems to be a provision of Nature; a decoy to secure mothers for the race.” (pag. 291) Most importantly Robert, in the beginning hopes Mrs. Pontellier takes him seriously and that she has discernment enough to find in him something besides the blagueur. (pag. 51) But then after being pushed around and consumed by expectations and limitations, even though he loves her, he bids her “Good-by - because, I love you.” (pag. 294) Edna concluded that “there was no one thing in the world that she desired. There was no human being whom she wanted near her except Robert”, but when she realized that even “him would melt out of her existence” she could not even bear the thought of not having him. (pag. 300) When one commits suicide it is because every other option is discarded, there is no escape. Edna could not find a possible solution for her situation. She was not going to be accepted into society if she stocked to her beliefs, so she decided to awaken. In conclusion, for Edna Pontellier, individualism and seclusion are almost inseparable. The expectations of tradition united with the limitations gave women of the nineteenth century very few opportunities for expressiveness. They were expected to perform their domestic duties and care for the health and happiness of their families. Edna, and other women from the Victorian era, were expected to not acknowledge their personal wants and needs. But Edna was different; during her awakening she discovers the identity of her true self and recognizes her desires. As she takes the leap and is determined to abandon her previous lifestyle, despondently, she realizes that her independent ideals and desires would never have a possibility of existing in the era she lived in.  Works Cited Buhle, Mari Jo. Women and American Socialism, 1870-1920. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1981. Print. 51 Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. Chicago: Herbert S. Stone, 1899. Documenting the American South. 1998. University Library, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 7 January 2004. http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/chopinawake/chopin.html Culley, Margaret, ed. The Awakening: An Authoritative Text Context Criticism. New York: Norton, 1976. Print. 152 Avilés 8